Composite veneer and method of making same.



H. L. STALEY 61W. B, SIMMONS.

COMPOSITE VENEER AND METHOD 0F MAKING SAME.

APPLICATION FILED MAY?l 1915.

1,154,138. PatentedSept. 21, 1915 ENLARGED. b

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFTTCE.

HARRISON L. STALEY, OF MARTINSVILLE, INDIANA, AND WALTER B. SIMMONS, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNORS TO WILTS VENEER COMPANY, OF RICHMOND,

VIRGINIA, A CORPORATION OF NORTH CAROLINA.

COMPOSITE VENEER AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME.

Application filed May 7, 1915.

T0 all 'e0/Lola. 'it may concern Be it known that we, HARRISON L. STALEY and mrnk B. SIMMONS, citizens of the United States of America, and residents, respectively, of Martinsville, county of Morgan, and State of Indiana, and Richmond, county of Henrico, and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Composite Veneer and Methods of Making Same, of which the following is a full and clear specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of a sheet of veneer constructed according to our method; and Fig. 2 a fragmentary sectional view greately enlarged.

The wood veneer now in general use con sists usually of three plies of wood superposed and ladhesively fastened together to make virtually a single board. This veneer board is widely used as lumber for making shipping boxes, but it is too expensive to compete with the ordinary box lumber T1- inch and less in thickness.

It is the object of our present invention to provide a method of producing composite veneer which shall be sufficiently inexpensive to manufacture and sufficiently rigid to enable it to be used as a substitute for the thinner kinds of ordinary box lumber. In many cases, also, our improved composite veneer may be advantageously used as a substitute for the laminated corrugated pasteboard box material that is now extensively employed for making boxes of a lighter kind.

Our invention consists in employing a single sheet of wood veneer a of the ordinary kind and adhesivelyfastening over the entire area of each of its faces a sheet of paper Z). Any suitable glue or other adhesive is employed to fasten the paper to the wood, and any suitable tough absorbent paper may be used. We have found in practice that what is known as Kraft" paper is very suitable because of its high tensile strength in all directions and because of its flexibility and absorbent qualities. rlhe paper is applied to the wood under heavy pressure-preferably plunger pressure-to the end that the glue shall be caused to practically disappear in the paper and the wood, both the wood and the paper being suffi- Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 21, 1915.

Serial No. 26,521.

ciently porous to absorb the glue, so that in the finished article there is no perceptible layer of glue between the paper and the wood, but on the contrary the paper is intimately in Contact with the wood. By reason of the iiexibility and softness of the paper and the heavy pressure employed, the fibers of the paper are forced into the natural interstices of the wood surface.

A composite veneer made in this manner, we have found by experiment, possesses great resistance to warping and splitting. rlhe tough, flexible, absorbent paper becomes virtually a part of the wood body and flexes and bends with it without wrinkling or separating from the wood. The completed article somewhat resembles stiff leather in rigidity and resistance against breaking from bending strains. lVe have found that boxes made in the ordinary way from this material possess vastly greater rigidity than similar boxes made from the well known corrugated laminated pasteboard, and we have also found that this composite veneer may be scored and gouged for bending and may be sawed without peeling or tearing the paper from the wood. The paper adheres to the wood virtually as though applied thereto in pulp condition, and it reinforces the wood so completely on both sides that it is impossible to split the wood except by such unusual bending strains as it never has to resist when made into shipping boxes.

As a'box-making material, it has the advantage of the corrugated pasteboard now on the market in that it presents to the contents of the box a smooth paper surface, thereby rendering it unnecessary in packing articles of a more delicate nature to use a paper lining; and it has advantages over the pasteboard box in that it is not only more rigid but has vastly more resistance to the entrance of moisture to the contents of the box, thereby enabling boxes made of this composite veneer to be used for shipping many articles that would be shipped in pasteboard boxes were it not that they are vulnerable to the entrance of moisture.

It will be understood that with this method of making the article, we are able to use a wood sheet of the thinness of the usual veneersheet, that is, a sheet which is so thin that by itself it is so flimsy and flexible as to be of no value as a box-board; in other bent into comparatively small cylinders without splitting or cracking the wood body I or tearing the paper layers. This cannot be done with any kind of wood veneer or any other box-board with which we are familia r. This capacity to bend without :injury lends itself nicely to the making of tubular or cy-l lindrical receptacles and packing cases, thus enabling us to produce articles of this kin very inexpensively.

Another feature of importance as compared with the ordinary multi-ply wood veneer is that while in making such veneers it is abso-lutely essential that care should be taken to see that the sheets shall cross-grain, in making our veneer, in view of the practical absence of grain in the paper sheets, the paper and veneer may be fastened together without regard to the grain of the wood.

It will be understood that in all cases it is essential that the paper layers shall be applied to both sides of the wood, as, if applied to but one side, the other side would no doubt splinter and split, and warping would occur. It will also be understood that it is essential that absorbent paper shall be used, as otherwise the glue would not be absorbed into the body of the paper, but would form a definite apparent layer and thus prevent the necessary intimate attachment of the paper to the wood.

It will be further understood that it is im portant that the glue or other adhesive shall be of the slow-setting kind, as otherwise the adhesive would set, at least in spots, before absorption by the paper and wood and thus prevent that complete and intimate contact of the paper and wood which is essential to ,f

a perfect product. In our experiments so far, we have used an adhesive which does not become brittle when set, and we believe that an adhesive of this kind is the best for the purpose, since an adhesive which becomes brittle when set would tend to crack under flexing strain and would thus be apt to separate the paper from the wood.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

l. The method herein described of making a composite box board consisting in adhesively fastening to the opposite faces of a single thin flexible sheet of wood under heavy pressure tough flexible absorbent sheets of paper, the pressure being sufficient to force the glue into the paper and wood and cause the fibers ofthe paper to substantially lill the interstices of the wood surface.

2. An article of manufacture consisting of a single ply of flexible wood veneer having adhesively fastened to each of its opposite faces a sheet of tough flexible absorbent paper, the paper being forced into intimate i contact with the wood surface, for the purposes set forth.

3. An article of manufacture consisting of a single ply of wood thin enough to readily flex and having adhesively fastened to each of its opposite faces a sheet of tough flexible paper, the paper extending over the entire area of the wood and being forced into intimate contact with the surface of the wood, whereby the wood sheet will be reinforced on both sides and be thereby prevented from warping and also splitting when flexed.

In testimony whereof we afl'ix our signatures, this 241th day of April, 1915.

HARRISON L. STALEY. IVALTER B. SIMMONS. 

